Gastric cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide and early detection is the key in its management. Endoscopy is widely used for screening; however this methodology involves invasive procedure and its cost effectiveness remains an issue. One of the main goals in molecular biomarker discovery today is to develop a non/minimally-invasive method for cancer screening. In clinical diagnosis, body fluids especially plasma, serum and urine are frequently sampled from patients since they are easily obtained without complicated procedures. Hence, they represent ideal substrates for diagnostic purposes. However biomarker discovery in body fluid is not without challenges. The wide dynamic range of more than 9 orders of magnitude in protein concentration coupled with 20 abundant proteins accounting for 99% of total protein mass has hindered the detection of low abundance proteins (Anderson, N. L.; Anderson, N. G., Mol Cell Proteomics 2002, 1, (11), 845-67).
A need exists for improved, non-invasive methods for detection of gastric cancer.